Sleep apnea and the risk of dementia: a population-based 5-year follow-up study in Taiwan - PubMed (original) (raw)

Sleep apnea and the risk of dementia: a population-based 5-year follow-up study in Taiwan

Wei-Pin Chang et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Background: Sleep apnea (SA) has been associated with cognitive impairment. However, no data regarding the risk of dementia in patients with SA has been reported in the general population. This retrospective matched-control cohort study was designed to estimate and compare the risk of dementia in SA and non-SA patients among persons aged 40 and above over a 5-year period follow-up.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide 5-year population-based study using data retrieved from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005) in Taiwan. The study cohort comprised 1414 patients with SA aged 40 years who had at least 1 inpatient service claim or 1 ambulatory care claim. The comparison cohort comprised 7070 randomly selected patients who were matched with the study group according to sex, age, and index year. We performed Cox proportional-hazards regressions to compute the 5-year dementia-free survival rates after adjusting for potentially confounding factors.

Results: The SA patients in this study had a 1.70-times greater risk of developing dementia within 5 years of diagnosis compared to non-SA age- and sex-matched patients, after adjusting for other risk factors (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.26-2.31; P < .01). For the gender-dependent effect, only females with SA were more likely to develop dementia (adjust HR: 2.38, 95% CI =1.51-3.74; P < .001). For the age-dependent effect of different genders, males with SA aged 50-59 years had a 6.08 times greater risk for developing dementia (95% CI = 1.96-18.90), and females with SA aged ≥ 70 years had a 3.20 times greater risk of developing dementia (95% CI =1.71-6.00). For the time-dependent effect, dementia may be most likely to occur in the first 2.5 years of follow-up (adjusted HR:2.04, 95% CI =1.35-3.07).

Conclusions: SA may be a gender-dependent, age-dependent, and time-dependent risk factor for dementia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

References

    1. Kales A, Caldwell AB, Cadieux RJ, Vela-Bueno A, Ruch LG et al. (1985) Severe obstructive sleep apnea--II: Associated psychopathology and psychosocial consequences. J Chronic Dis 38: 427-434. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(85)90138-9. PubMed: 3998057. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alchanatis M, Zias N, Deligiorgis N, Liappas I, Chroneou A et al. (2008) Comparison of cognitive performance among different age groups in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep Breath 12: 17-24. doi: 10.1007/s11325-007-0133-y. PubMed: 17906886. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ayalon L, Ancoli-Israel S, Drummond SP (2010) Obstructive sleep apnea and age: a double insult to brain function? Am J Respir Crit Care Med 182: 413-419. doi: 10.1164/rccm.200912-1805OC. PubMed: 20395556. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wallace A, Bucks RS (2013) Memory and obstructive sleep apnea: a meta-analysis. Sleep 36: 203-220. PubMed: 23372268. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ancoli-Israel S, Klauber MR, Butters N, Parker L, Kripke DF (1991) Dementia in institutionalized elderly: relation to sleep apnea. J Am Geriatr Soc 39: 258-263. PubMed: 2005339. - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources